Nintendo Left Sony "Standing At The Altar" With SNES Disk Add-On, Says Former PlayStation Exec

Obviously nobody knew how it would pan out at the time but it's fascinating to think how different the gaming landscape could have looked had Nintendo not pulled out at the last minute.

Would Sega still be around???

Would Xbox even be a thing???

And then PlayStation was born in year 1994.
It was Nintendo vs Sony situation.
I personally prefer PS1 games than N64 games for better 3rd party games choice and better controller design.

Even though Nintendo and Sony’s tech was compatible, I very much doubt their business practices would have been for very long even if the SNES/Playstation had been put into production.

Two sets of big feet waiting to be stepped on.

I think it was just a matter of time for Sony going alone to this gaming business. It started with Nintendo but they would understand later on that this scene has a lot of money and they know making devices, technology etc so they would be independent.

Nintendo messed up with making the deal and Sony refused to let them fix it. Nintendo going along with Sony would've been disastrous. Shawn Layden is full of crap

I'm kind of glad this never happened, Sony is a pretty generic company and I wouldn't want that effecting the Nintendo games.

Classic villain origin story

I’d be curious to follow a timeline where Nintendo and Sony did see the partnership through. Does sega partner with Phillips? Does Phillips become “Sony”? Is it now just Nintendo and Sony vs sega? Interesting to consider.

Considering how Sony is now, I don't feel sorry.

"You have feelings for someone else, don't you...?

"..."

"DON'T YOU!?"

"Okay, okay, yes! I never meant to lead you on, but...there is someone else."

"I can't believe this. I think I'm gonna be sick... What's his name?"

"Phillip."

"Phillip what?"

"Phillips CD-i."

Why report on this proven lie?
Nintendo stopped working with $ony because $ony wanted Nintendo's IP rights.

It's really disappointing how Nintendo treated Sony here, but at least it led to the PS1 and more competition.

I love the N64 as much as the next guy but the PS1 revolutionized the industry.

In retrospective, it’s probably best for both parties that this collaboration never happened.

@PipeGuy64Bit They really did not. Sony was trying to take advantage of Nintendo, no doubt about it. While CDi failed, leaving Sony was definitely the right choice.

@Olliemar28
There are some Nintendo games I like but I have different interest level for each machines and also when being compared with PlayStation machines.

My major interest of Nintendo machines are 3DS, NDS, Wii, Switch
My minor interest of Nintendo machines are Wii U, Gamecube, GBA
I have no interest with N64 due to lack of 3rd party games that I have interest about, compared with 3rd party games on PS1 that really shaped my gaming experience.
Also, I don't like N64 controller design compared with PS1 controller design with Analog buttons.
I have no longer interest with NES and SNES games anymore as I'm no longer have interest with 8 / 16 bit retro games.
I don't play Gameboy and GBC for similar situation as NES / SNES games.

See?
I still the supporter of Nintendo games, from other Nintendo machines I mentioned about.
I have the most games quantity on Wii (More than 80 physical Wii games) than my other Nintendo games, but yeah of course... a lot of 3rd party niche / unpopular games.
My Switch games collection currently 69 games, almost make my 3 HORI Switch 24 card case full of Switch cartridge.
My the most gameplay hours of Nintendo game is Animal Crossing New Horizons with more than 1050 hours gameplay since I bought the game on 27 June 2020.
My 3DS games is more than 70 games (USA + Japan + PAL), again... with a lot of 3rd party niche / unpopular games.
My NDS games is more than 50 games with same situation as 3DS.

If I compared my Nintendo machines with my PlayStation machines, it will be like this.

1. PS5
2. PS4
3. PS2
4. Switch
5. 3DS
6. Wii
7. PS3
8. NDS
9. PS1
10. Gamecube
11. Wii U
12. PSP
13. GBA

Well…. At least Nintendo and Sony’s split led to great YTPs in the 2000s revolving around the Zelda CD-i games. It’s interesting to think about where exactly the industry would be if the two didn’t go their separate ways.

Arguably one of the biggest ever fumblings of a bag. Imagine A unified Playstation/Nintendo PS1N64, PS2GC, PS3WII etc. And the combined library of the 2, or having Nintendo made games at Playstation specs.

Let's be honest, Sony was trying to pull a fast one by using Nintendo to gain dominance in and control of the market via slightly sneaky means that ultimately would have been bad for Nintendo in that deal in the long run, and Nintendo simply figured it out and did the dirty first. So, make no mistake, Sony wasn't the mistreated party here, or at least not to the degree it might appear at first glance. And, really, I think it was Sega that ended up feeling the full brunt of Sony deciding to do its own thing and continuing with PlayStation anyway, because that was pretty much the start of Sega's downfall and eventual dropping out of the console market entirely. It just couldn't compete against both Nintendo and Sony and even Microsoft too eventually. And the rest is history. Sony came in like a wrecking ball!

With events like this I don’t want to be too quick to pass judgement on either side. It’s one of those things, unless you hear the truth from all the people involved, both sides, all you can do is speculate.
Maybe Nintendo did have a good reason going with a different company.
It’s interesting to look back and discuss but I think all that matters at the end of the day is Nintendo are still going regardless.

@Anti-Matter There's plenty of Playstation websites out there if you were not aware.

@gojiguy Honestly, I'm a diehard Nintendo elitist, but even I have to admit that PS1 was a better console than N64.

I wouldn't say that about any other hardware generation.

@Duncanballs
When I read this article on Nintendolife about Nintendo vs Sony situation after they broke up, the first thing on my mind was PS1 being my favorite choice than N64 due to more appealing 3rd party games on PS1 + better controller design than N64.
And that's why I became DDR player thanks to PS1 with their DDR games from Arcade version.

@nebzila In reality, I don't think it would have worked out that way. Sony created Crash Bandicoot to be their platforming mascot to compete against Mario. In an alternate timeline where Nintendo remained buddy-buddy with Sony, a lot of their flagship titles like Crash and Spyro wouldn't have needed to exist.

To be fair, Nintendo leaving Sony may have been a factor as to what happened next but what amazes me is how often the second half of the story is missed out. Sony went to Sega to team up for making a 32 bit console and though Sega of America said yes, Sega of Japan said no and this is why Sony went alone. Nintendo are kinda always made to look like the villain that pushed Sony into making the PlayStation.

I don't see the problem with a Nintendo fan enjoying PS1 more than N64? This comment section is weird. Just because we're on a Nintendo focused site doesn't mean every user has to always side with Nintendo in every opportunity.

PS1 clearly had the larger variety of games than N64. It's not a matter of "brand loyalty" at this point, the two machines are very very different products. Like, if you were an RPG fan, you were just completely out of luck on N64, while PS1 was out there completely revolutionising the genre.

@FragRed tbf neither Nintendo or SEGA should have went ahead with Sony's agreement for the disk drive. Sony with their disc drive are pretty much the wicked Queen with her poison apple.

Partnering with Sony for the disc drive relinquished the game licensing process exclusively to Sony. Which would have meant Nintendo, SEGA and all 3rd parties would deal with Sony for licensing and CD Printing.

Had Nintendo or SEGA took them up they'd gave became essentially a 3rd party on their own system. And by the PS2 Sony will not have needed Nintendo or SEGA because Sony would be the one w/ all of Nintendo/SEGA's previous 3rd party deals.

Though both Nintendo and SEGA made a series of mistakes that lead to Sony ending up with almost all of the 3rd party support, it's still better than them just straight up handing Sony them.

Both parties tried screw each other over with this collaboration. Sony had some demands that wouldn't benefit Nintendo and so did Nintendo, this was the best outcome even in this harsh way.

And hey, we got the glorious Zelda CD-i games and Hotel Mario as a consolation prize.

@PikminMarioKirby Yeah Sony only revolutionised the industry with the PS1, but sure, they're generic.

@MeanBeanEgg How about "Ninten-dough"?

@MrPeanutbutterz I think they had more personality back in the PS1 days, but as of recent a lot of what they are putting out is generic. I think saying they revolutionized gaming is a bit of a stretch. More likely they revolutionized watching movies for cheap on the 'gaming' console PS2.

Ken Kutaragi was on a path, working for Sony and looking for an intersection with video games. Whether Nintendo jumped ship sooner or later, or never made Ken an offer in the first place, he had the CEO’s attention and buy-in and would have probably led Sony to their own part in the industry when any opportunity eventually came knocking, not just Nintendo.

Fast forward to 2024 and Nintendo/Playstation are still my favourite (only) places to play games!

I swear... these comment sections are just so weird sometimes. Let people enjoy whatever products they want. Just because someone types a comment on a Nintendo related site doesn't mean automatically their favourite company.

And now to the topic:
It's been well documented that this partnership could've well ended into Sony's favour. Sony would have received profits from every single CD game sold and eventually they might have just become that much bigger and bought out Nintendo.

Playstation and Nintendo going separate directions was the best outcome anyway. We get to experience both, one console who focuses on visuals and blockbuster games and one that focuses on pure fun and news ways to play. Otherwise we could have seen a Nintendo who chases visuals over anything else.

Also for me Playstation has been ahead every generation in terms of hardware whilst Nintendo have been ahead in terms of better games.

@Olliemar28 The question we all want to know!

@Spider-Kev Come on, the dollar signs on Sony's name look ridiculous. Nintendo wants and makes money too, you know. Nintendo and Sony Interactive Entertainment are both corporations making video games to turn a profit. There's no real difference between them other than the specific products they make.

@Luffymcduck it is strange here sometimes that you can’t be just a believer in video games, but have to specifically believe in all 7 generations of Nintendo for some folks’ acceptance, lol

Sony entered in the hardware market to make money on every videogames sold on the market. It's a control freak strategy they never stopped to have unlike Nintendo. Presenting Sony as the poor small victim is nonsense. And if Nintend had accepted the deal with Playstation they would be in the same poor state as Square-Enix now. Sony isn't here to make friends or build a viable industry. They're here to make big money on a bland and standardized market they want to tax on unlike Nintendo who adpoted a full content maker policy.

The moment I saw a Sony and Playstation logo on an SNES controller with the prototype, I knew the deal would've ended up in Sony's favor.

So yeah, even if I'm curious to know the hypothetical outcome of the collaboration, it's probably for the best it didn't happen.

İ do not know this. İ am for Nintendo. İ do not know. İ have not heard this in the years 1990 so İ do not know. İf it is true then it is true.
İt is not important for me.

@Anti-Matter Don’t let yourself be disheartened by criticism on your opinion. It must be tough sometimes, having to defend a personal taste that differs from the norm. But I for one, always enjoy your honest and unorthodox way of thinking.

Can’t believe Sony tried to backstab Nintendo in the deal. I thought Japanese companies don’t tend to do that.

@Bucky indeed!

And in response to what did they do that, again? It seems proverbial by now that both sides "acted like ogres"© in the case. Kutaragi had every right to be pissed as someone presumably uninvolved in the drafting of the memetic contract terms which probably can't be said about the higherups he went to... or the Nintendo lawyers supposed to have read the whole thing long before the development, let alone the announcement window.

@8bit-Man I think you need to read the comments.

I see very little criticism of someone's personal taste.

When someone routinely talks about Sony on a Nintendo website and often cites the same thing which is very much of an opinion that Sony is preferred or better, it's a legitimate question, does the poster actually like Nintendo?

@PikminMarioKirby They moved the console industry wholesale to optical media - it sure as heck wasn't the Amiga 32, 3D0, or Sega Saturn that did that. Companies like Konami, Squaresoft, Capcom - all barely touched the N64.

Far more importantly, the PS1 also shifted the perception of gaming as kids' hobby to that of young adults. They effectively made the hobby "cool" in a way it very much wasn't before. As someone who was playing games for half a decade before the PS1 arrived, let me tell you the perception and timeline is very much "before" and "after" that console launching.

PS1 set the standard for controllers that's still used today, especially with their introduction of four shoulder buttons, rumble, and two analogue sticks.

More likely they revolutionized watching movies for cheap on the 'gaming' console PS2.

I'm sorry, but is that supposed to be satire? It's got one of the deepest and most beloved libraries of all time, and is frequently cited as the best console ever made - and that isn't because you could watch a Blade DVD on it in 2002. Claiming it's little more than a jumped-up DVD player only serves to diminish the validity of your own opinions.

@MrPeanutbutterz You keep removing context from what I'm saying. PS2 does have a popular game library, I'm just saying that's not where a lot of that 160 million sales came from. Arguably a pretty good way to get people to get a video game console, and perhaps some people who have never played video games got their first ones! Please don't call others opinions invalid, they are perfectly valid using more context and less assumptions.

@Duncanballs
Of course I still like my Nintendo games.
But, I have different level of likeness for every Nintendo games.
Some of them are my MAJOR favorite, but the other are my MINOR favorite.
Read my reply to Olliemar28 about how strong my interest level with my BOTH Nintendo and PlayStation machines + how did I see every Nintendo games I have.
Just because I prefer PS1 than N64 for having something better for my choice, it doesn't mean I completely against Nintendo games.
I'm here on Nintendolife NOT to talk how wonderful every 1st party Switch games than any other games for 24 hours 7 days.
I'm here to talk BOTH Nintendo and PlayStation games, but since I have more favor on 3rd party games, I talk more 3rd party games than 1st party Nintendo games here because the 3rd party games offered me something undeniable interesting stuffs than 1st party Nintendo games from my point of view.
And that's why I became Expert DDR player from DDR games on PS1 & PS2 than from DDR Marioix.
Why?
Because DDR games on PS1 & PS2 are Arcade version based with more songs variety, better songlist & more challenging stepcharts than DDR Mario Mix on Gamecube.
The DDR games on PS1, PS2 and Arcade really shaped me as Expert DDR player with more than 21 years experience.
And what about DDR Mario Mix?
DDR Mario Mix was outdated like DDR PS1 version without the speed up option and Note skin arrow option when DDR on PS2 already have speed up option and Note skin color.
And if when I get DDR Mario Mix on Gamecube, do you think I will play the game because of "OMG, MARIO AND LUIGI ON DDR, SO CUTE!"
My answer is NO.
I pay attention more on the stepchart design and the hardest level as possible, not for looking at how cute Mario & Luigi dancing on the stage with arrows keep moving from bottom to up with Nintendo songs.
DDR Mario Mix have the hardest level equally as hard as level 12 on DDR X difficulty level, still too easy for me.

@MrPeanutbutterz The Amiga was massive in Europe and the CD32 was off to a good start. Unfortunately, Commodore couldn't bankroll the production and the company folded. If things had turned out different, they could have been the first to really put out optical media.

Sega messed up the Saturn and they had confused and alienated a lot of users with the 101 add ons for the Megadrive. Their US and Japanese office were often at odds with each other. Shame. Sega could have survived in better hands.

The PS1 was a pivotal point, agreed but some of the shift in that era was the death of Arcades where consoles were catching up and a number of consoles contributed to that including the 16 bit generation. Arcades were always cool.

PS2 benefitted from the DVD player no doubt but I agree, it was a great console and catalogue on its own merits.

@Anti-Matter you don't have to capitalise your points. Look my friend, no one has an issue with the games you like. We are all individuals who enjoy gaming. I think sometimes your comments are a little leaning towards Sony and it appears to be the majority. There are no rules here that you can't talk about Sony but short initial comments without context are going to invite comment back.

plays small violin
Poor Sony was shafted. But as other people noted, they weren't the good guys that the gaming media makes them out to be.

My honest guess is not much would have changed. The SNES was old in the tooth and people weren't into expensive add-ons at the time. Look at the Sega CD and how poor that did. So my guess would have been they still would have moved to cartridge for the N64 and then Sony could have still worked on a new console to save their investment.

Where it could get interesting is if Nintendo told Sony we want this CD for the N64. That would have been the alternative history. The N64 was mostly seen as more powerful than the PS1. But often due to lack of disc space and compression, the PS1 seemed more impressive. If the N64 was really a lower powered Gamecube and there was no PS1 then Nintendo could have dominated. Especially if Sony studios was still created to make games that were PS1 exclusive as Nintendo exclusive. Gamecube would have absolutely dominated the Xbox. The future probably would have looked alot different after that though. Nintendo may not have gone down the road less traveled. We may not have seen a Wii or DS. Nintendo could have been the company of same old same old.

Funny how Layden doesn't mention the crooked deal Sony had with Nintendo. If Yamauchi wouldn't have second guessed the decision, and made the lawyers read every page of the deal with Sony, he wouldn't have realized that Sony was trying to get ahold of all the IPs that were going to have games on the platform, and most of the sales profits of both software and hardware, were going to be for Sony. The press is always trying to make Sony the victim, when they're the perpretrators all the time. Sony just put a different skin on the console, even the controller ports are the same as the Super Nintendo ones hahahaha.

@Olliemar28 man, preferring the PS1 over the N64 is def not rare for a lot of Nintendo fans as well lol

Eh. Honestly I still think Nintendo made the best decision with what they had. They didn’t have the deep pockets Sony had to market the PlayStation (I hated the PlayStation in part for the heavyhanded marketing but it worked on its intended market) globally, and absorb the costs if the Nintendo PS didn’t take off. Besides most of the games PlayStation was/is known for wouldn’t have made it out of Japan or would have been edited as Nintendo was usually the go to punching bag if a game went afoul of censors or cultural sensibilities (which they started to avoid by having less M rated games). As such they likely would have vetoed a lot of franchises that thrived at that time under sony. Nintendo also couldn’t afford to trot out super expensive systems and they likely would not have pushed on bluray.

Besides Nintendo isn’t gonna pay for major remakes like FF7 or foot the bill for SF5. So in the end it worked out imo. Sony would have paid to push CD, DVD and BluRay regardless so it would have been something else if not PS. PlayStation just made it easier for Sony to jump in with little heavy lifting up front since they had the tech on Nintendo’s dime. Plus the licensing back and forth if sony had tried to go their own way later (and they would) or just outright buy Nintendo would have changed everything. I know grass is greener and all that (it isn’t) but seriously water your own grass. Nintendo did just that.

I can’t imagine the debacle of a Nintendo PS3 launch.

Honestly I am glad. I still think Nintendo makes better games and does more with their tech. Meanwhile Sony trots out high end systems that need mid life upgrades (serious upgrades under the hood) that still don’t optimize games. I can afford it but I am not buying a new PS every two years. And I say this while owning 3 (might be 4 if I get the zelda lite) switches and 11 3ds systems. Not saying Nintendo has perfect performance but they try very hard to make a game fit the hardware it is on. I also as a risk adverse retail investor (ie I work a regular job and invest using those funds as opposed to having a massive stock portfolio) Nintendo is the safer bet because of the choices they make (yes even with wiiu. I did NOT buy enough stock during that dip sadly). They make money 9 time out of 10 than lose it. That is good for investors.

Also having sony as a competitor means Nintendo learns from their moves. I suspect part of the reason why Nintendo matured the cartridge medium is from watching the PSP and Vita.

@PikminMarioKirby No, that was precisely the context of what you said. You're only embellishing it now.

Sure, some of those sales came from people wanting a DVD player, but at the same time a lot of them came from people wanting a console and a DVD player. And given that its predecessor was the first console to break 100 million units, absolutely nothing about the PS2 'gaming' console (as you so churlishly put it) and its popularity that happened by accident.

There had to be some kind of mutual agreement to cancel the Sony add-on device.
Otherwise certainly Sony could've and would've sued Nintendo for terminating the contract last minute.

Also like people have said Sony wasn’t innocent. This deal was about leverage. And Nintendo understood it wasn’t in their favor.

In another universe some article reads : What if SonyNintendo hadn’t made the Nintendo PlayStation and bought out Nintendo?

Just buy the systems that have the games you wanna play. Too many games to play what if.

@FragRed To be fair, if you were Sega, wouldn't you want to judge Sony by their published catalog. Though they published a few good games (at least on Nintendo hardware), Sony Imagesoft had published a lot of jank and a good part of it was licensed IP (and probably from their corporate sibling Columbia Tristar Pictures).

@MrPeanutbutterz Funny thing is, "souped-up DVD player" is a format that existed. The platform was called Nuon and built into some early 2000s DVD players (though it was not sold under its own brand name). I think I've heard of some Toshiba and Samsung players having it.
I hadn't heard of it (at least released) until a few years ago (though I do remember announcements in game magazines around 1998 as a dedicated "Project X" machine before the announcement it would become an extra feature of other DVD players).

@Duncanballs Yes, I have read the comments. Including the one where you insinuated he should go post on a Sony website instead. Like he isn’t welcome here if his opinion doesn’t match the majority?

I personally found that an unnecessary mean remark.

@8bit-Man well apologies if you saw it that way. I wouldn't call it mean as such and as you will see I've been in direct comments with Anti matter. I'm sure he can speak for himself if he wants.

If anything, you were the one that said his opinions and likes were different to the norm. I don't think anyone else did or use words like unorthodox.

@8bit-Man
Thanks. 😊

I think you guys are missing something important. This was 90's Sony. The same Sony that was throwing huge stacks of money around, buying up Columbia Pictures and CBS Music. The PlayStation deal was basically step one of a longer plan to buy out Nintendo in a unfriendly buyout at best.

I would also consider that many iconic Nintendo IPs would of never existed (Star Fox, Mario Kart, Donkey Kong Country) if they had to stick with CDs. I also think most Sony IPs would of been butterflied away if not for Sony needing to strike out on its own.

It is comical how often this topic comes up, yet virtually you NEVER hear the reason why Nintendo "left Sony at the Altar". While it is widely agreed that Nintendo did a crap move, but on the other side Sony was highly greedy in their demands that would have screwed over Nintendo for that partnership.

Two wrongs never make a right, but only paying attention to one side of the story always skews the truth.

Now, if they went through with it, it is hard to say how well it would have turned out. It could have just been like the Sega CD add-on, a One-and-Done time, or could have been the start of something great (but that is wishful thinking). But no matter what could have been, the current landscape could be vastly different.

All I can say is Sony came back to bite Nintendo where it counted, so Nintendo can only blame themselves for creating their greatest rival. It's poetic justice. In the years since, there's been winners on all sides.

I'm a Nintendo fan but I think two things are pretty clear:

1. The Playstation was good for the gaming hobby.
2. PS1 was better than N64.

@Duncanballs Sadly I'm an old fart and remember the lay of the console land in the 1990s quite well lol. I think the point I was trying to make to the other poster was other companies flirted with optical media for consoles, but Sony were the ones that nailed it and heralded the sea-change.

I'd give anything for arcades to be a thing again!

@MrPeanutbutterz I remember the optical race as well and Sony did indeed win that race.

I started on Track and Field in the 80s and lost most of my pocket money in the 90s to Street Fighter 2 in the arcade. I'm an old fart too 😄

Interesting, could swear I read a completely different story some years ago. Sony wanted far more than 50% of game revenue, so Nintendo backed out. Sony also tried to develop a CD ROM system with Sega after the a Nintendo deal fell through. No mention of that here. A theory suggests Sony never intended to partner with anyone, but pretended so they could steal industry secrets from both companies. Making Nintendo an impossible offer forced Nintendo to back out, and then Sony could claim to be the victim.

With Sony Image Soft and the way the console deal worked for Sony's cut/side of the deal. Eh could have gone either way. Would Sega be around maybe. Atari/Xbox well would we still see a console/PC threat at all maybe, maybe not.

N64 was good enough for PC ports in a way I guess as close to SGI Indy machines apparently.

Would Sony have asked for more out of it probably but at the same time hard to say.

Both Nintendo/Sega are pretty particular from that era after all. Anything could have happened. But at the same time with how Nintendo was open to technologies of Virtual Boy and Wii motion controls besides their own in GBC carts prior to Wii depends.

Sega and Sony said no to those technologies or Sega doing so to Sony as well. So I mean all companies made their competition attempt and either lasted or didn't and went elsewhere.

Sony can be particular in any era so it could have gone either way with the deal or how they have a handle on things compared to just the SNES sound chip or Imagesoft

But Philips just had a box for many things to use CDs and the CDi, Video/Audio CDs and more came about still among others of the CD standards/alliance I assume anyways.

I love Nintendo & Sony, but without a doubt the biggest mistake Nintendo made was not giving the Snes the cd add on. The system would of had even more potential.